In Bruges (2008)

"After I killed him, I dropped the gun in the Thames, washed the residue off me hands in the bathroom of a Burger King, and walked home to await instructions. Shortly thereafter the instructions came through - "Get the fuck out of London, you dumb fucks. Get to Bruges." I didn't even know where Bruges fucking was. [pause] It's in Belgium."
- Ray (Colin Farrell) (first lines)

Ken (Brendan Gleeson): Coming up?
Ray: What's up there?
Ken: The view.
Ray: The view of what? The view of down here? I can see that down here.

Ken: Harry, let's face it. And I'm not being funny. I mean no disrespect, but you're a cunt. You're a cunt now, and you've always been a cunt. And the only thing that's going to change is that you're going to be an even bigger cunt. Maybe have some more cunt kids.
Harry (Ralph Fiennes): [furious] Leave my kids fucking out of it! What have they done? You fucking retract that bit about my cunt fucking kids!
Ken: I retract that bit about your cunt fucking kids.
Harry: Insult my fucking kids? That's going overboard, mate!
Ken: I retracted it, didn't I?

Ray: Why didn't you wave hello to me today when I waved hello to you today?
Jimmy (Jordan Prentice): I was on a very strong horse tranquilizer today; Wasn't waving hello to anybody. Except... maybe to a horse.

"An Uzi? I'm not from South Central Los Angeles. I didn't come here to shoot twenty black ten year olds in a drive-by. I want a normal gun for a normal person."
- Harry: (to Yuri)

"Not only have you refused to kill the boy, you even stopped the boy from killing himself, which would've solved my problem, which would've solved your problem, which sounds like it would've solved the boy's problem."
- Harry

Eirik (Jérémie Renier): I was trying to rob him. And he took my gun from me. And the gun was full of blanks. And he shot a blank into my eye. And now I cannot see from this eye ever again, the doctors say.
Harry: Well to be honest it sounds like it's all your fault.
Eirik: What?
Harry: I mean basically if you're robbing a man and you're only carrying blanks and you allow your gun to be taken off you and you allow yourself to be shot in the eye with a blank which I assume that the person has to get quite close to you then, yeah really it's all your fault for being such a poof, so why don't you stop whinging and cheer the fuck up.

Ray: A lot of midgets tend to kill themselves. The disproportionate, I meant. Herve Villechaize offed on Fantasy Island. I think somebody offed on Time Bandits. I suppose they must get really sad about like being really little and that people looking at them, laughing at them, calling them names. You know, short arse. There's another famous midget. I miss him but I can't remember. It's not the R2D2 man; no, he's still going. I hope your midget doesn't kill himself. Your dream sequence will be fucked.
Chlo (Clémence Poésy): He doesn't like being called a midget. He prefers dwarf.
Ray: This is exactly my point! People going around calling you a midget when you want to be called a dwarf. Of course you're going to blow your head off.

Ken: You from the States?
Jimmy: Yeah. But don't hold it against me.
Ken: I'll try not to... Just try not to say anything too loud or crass.

Ken: Ray, did we or did we not agree that if I let you go on your date tonight, you'd do the things I wanted to do today?
Ray: We are doing the things you wanted to do today.
Ken: And I would do them without you throwing a fucking moody, like a five year old who's dropped all his sweets.
Ray: We didn't agree to that.

Ray: [crying] I killed a little boy!
[Ken embraces Ray]
Ken: Then save the next little boy. Just go away somewhere, get out of this business, and try to do something good. You're not going to help anybody dead. You're not going to bring that boy back. But you might save the next one.
Ray: What am I going to be, a doctor? You need exams.

 "There's a Christmas tree somewhere in London with a bunch of presents underneath it that'll never be opened. And I thought, if I survive all of this, I'd go to that house, apologize to the mother there, and accept whatever punishment she chose for me. Prison...death...didn't matter. Because at least in prison and at least in death, you know, I wouldn't be in fuckin' Bruges. But then, like a flash, it came to me. And I realized, fuck man, maybe that's what hell is: the entire rest of eternity spent in fuckin' Bruges. And I really really hoped I wouldn't die. I really really hoped I wouldn't die."
- Ray (last lines)

At a glance: Writer/director Martin McDonagh’s first feature length film is a well-blended mix of low-key, quirky comedy, quite reflection on morality, and emotionally charged violence.

Two hired killers have finished their work, and, following instructions from their employer, wait in Bruges, a small town in Belgium, there to muse comically on the local historical architecture and seriously ponder the morality of their ways. Ken (Brendan Gleeson) is a patient man, and he is enjoying the wait in Bruges, but Ray (Colin Farrell) is not only bored, but he is haunted by his mistakes. Their strange partnership/chemistry is tested when they both decide to kill the same man – but it’s not exactly as simple as it sounds. Thoroughly enjoyable comedy/drama starts almost whimsically, peppering the script with quirky characters, then slowly builds tension, and amuses constantly simply with good writing and characterization. Both Gleeson and Farrell are exquisite; Ralph Fiennes does an unexpectedly brilliant turn as their malevolent employer. Note that the film turns decidedly more serious in its final third. Cartel Burwell’s moody music complements the Bruges visuals. Writer/director Martin McDonagh impresses with this, his first feature length film. Rating: 3.5 of 4

"There's a Mametian rat-a-tat to McDonagh's dialogue, but the offbeat humor and the characters' genuine pain and regret feels unique."
- Alonso Duralde (MSNBC)

"Farrell has brought his A-game to this cracking little comedy-noir written and directed by Martin McDonagh. He is absolutely superb."
- Peter Bradshaw (Guardian - UK)

"Brooding, tense, allegorical, quirky, tragic and unbelievably funny, In Bruges may be the most intelligent, introspective and bizarre gangster thriller in quite some time, perhaps ever."
- Prairie Miller (NewsBlaze)

"A morality tale with a distinctly Coen-ish air, making excellent, occasionally surreal, use of a great location and lacing the comedy with bloody unpleasantness. It even has a quirky score by Coen collaborator Carter Burwell."
- Elliott Noble (Sky Movies)Reviewer quotes